Code Geass: Dance of Shadows
by CainViBritannia
Summary: After finally completing the Zero Requiem and ending the cycle of hatred, Lelouch embraces death with open arms. (Un)luckily for him, death never came as he wakes up in a world that is neither his nor C's world. What he expected even less, was to find an ancient demon that turned out to be his ancestor, and apparantly has very high expectations of his descendant. AU and OC's.
1. Chapter 1

**Dear readers, I'm sorry for the lack of update for my other story, Code Geass - Take two, but, I am somehow unable to come up for anything regarding that story. Well, I actually do have tons of ideas, but I seem to have tripped myself up by simply writing and not really paying any mind to the general direction in which the story was headed. That is why I am writing this, as it just doesn't seem to want to leave my mind. I have yet to decide whether I will even continue that story, as I'm really busy with exams and this one just wants to be written down no matter what. Anyway, I guess I could chalk that up to my inexperience as a writer, as that really was the first story I've ever written.**

**Warning: This story will be extremely AU and will possibly include things from other anime and/or manga.**

**That aside, I hope you enjoy this story in the meanwhile.**

**Chapter one: The Beginning**

**Prologue**

_It's...done._

He still couldn't believe it. It was done, Lelouch, the demon emperor, destroyed the world and created it anew. Zero Requiem was finally completed, and the plan went off better than he or Suzaku could've imagined.

The hate of the world was purely focused on him, and unbeknownst to the many people of the world, that hate for one person unified them.

Of course, the price that had to be paid was a dear one. But alas, the dark prince had been willing to pay it. Still, he supposed he did a good job, after all, many great men and women had attempted to break the cycle of hatred, only to give up or die in the process. A small smile played across his lips as he staggered forward on top of the dais, _the only ones who should kill, are those prepared to be killed, right?_

In the end, that really was true.

As his dying form fell and slid down the picture of the Britannian flag, one person whom he had given everything up for appeared in his waning vision.

Nunnally.

Said girl stared at him in disbelief, her brain not quite registering, or not wanting to register the fact that her beloved older brother was dying. She hesitantly grabbed his bloody hand, and gasped in surprise as images flooded her mind. In what seemed like a minutes, but only was a few seconds, the whole plan Lelouch and Suzaku had concocted played back in her mind.

"You mean...all this...you did for me?" Tears began to percolate in her eyes she buried her face in his slowly stilling chest, sobbing uncontrollably as the crowd began to cheer and shout, rushing to the convoy to free the prisoners along with Cornelia, who had used the chance to act.

The few that actually saw through or knew about Lelouch's plan shed tears for their fallen comrade. Even Suzaku, who Lelouch had taken Euphy from, couldn't hold back the tears that poured down his face. But he had to stand strong, to represent a torch of hope for the world; the messiah that killed Lelouch, the demon emperor.

"Oh big brother, I love you!"

At those few words, a smile tugged at the corner of Lelouch's lips. Finally, Nunnally would have that gentler world she always wished for, even though he wouldn't be there to share it with her.

"Nunnally..." He weakly raised one arm and placed his hand on her cheek, which she quickly pressed with her other hand that was stained with his blood.

"I...love you, too..." He could feel himself slowly drifting into wherever people went when they died, "I leave the rest...to you...and Suzaku..."

She looked up to 'Zero', who was standing there calmly, though she knew that was only on the outside. Looking down to her dying brother, she smiled weakly; she would atleast be strong for the man that had given up so much and rang in an era of peace, "Yes, Lelouch..."

The smile that graced the dark prince's features widened just a fraction before he felt a serene feeling wash over him, and after that, nothing.

..._Geass, now that I think about it, is a deal with the devil, rather than a wish..._

With a gasp, Lelouch's eyes shot open.

He quickly propped himself up and examined his surroundings. _What happened? _The last thing he saw was Nunnally, holding his hand and smiling weakly at him as he...died.

Was this death? It felt...wrong. All he could see was darkness, really. An endless void, which seemed to go on forever with no discernable ground or sky, yet he could still stand as he carefully got up. He could even see the inky blackness, as if some invisible light source hung in the sky, or rather lack there of. It was strange to say the least. If he recalled correctly, every human was assimilated into the collective unconscioussness once they passed away.

Though if not just assimilation into the 'gods', he would've atleast expected to wake up in C's world. But that was clearly not the case, seeing as this definitely wasn't C's world, or even his world for that matter.

_Something's wrong..._ Despite all his instincts screaming at him to just stay there, he slowly made his way into a random direction. There was nothing that would've even hinted at his current whereabouts. Wherever he looked, his gaze was met by more darkness. Still, staying there wouldn't help him either.

After what seemed like hours, but unbeknownst to the dark prince were only about five mintues of walking and getting nowhere, annoyance started to show on his features in form of a scowl. "Okay, okay," he called out to whatever deity or god or higher power was currently bored enough to listen to his poor soul, deciding to humour himself, "I know I did some bad things during my life, but it was for a good reason!"

Much to his surprise(yes, sarcasm), no-one, if anyone _was _actually listening, bothered to answer.

"Hey, the world is finally at peace now! Doesn't that account for anything?!"

This time however, a booming laughter rang through the dark nothingness he was trapped in, "You humans sure know how to entertain someone..."

The dark prince blinked, was this the deity that was lending him an ear? He had a hard time believing that, as the voice sounded...malicious. Hell, it sounded downright evil. And that laughter; Lelouch shuddered.

If there was ever a being that could be deemed evil and unpure just by its voice, this one took the cake.

"Yes, well, could you do something about this...darkness? That'd be much appreciated."

"Very well."

With that, a dark blue wave of light washed over the darkness, and drove it away in the process.

However, the unveiled surroundings of him were little more asthetically pleasing than the darkness that was there a second ago. The dark prince even preferred the latter, now that he actually saw where he was.

It was a barren and desolate wasteland. Dead trees the branches of which looked like limbs of viscious monsters were scattered across the land. Sparse patches of dead grass dotted the area, and by the looks of it, they would surely brittle away with the lightest breeze. Which brought him to something else that seemed off in...wherever he was. There was no wind. Literally; he couldn't feel the slightest breeze passing by.

What was really disturbing though, was the sky. Instead of the light blue one would usually associate with the sky, this one was a very dark blue, with flecks of black flashing here and there. The latter was most likely a phenomenon like the polar lights in his world, but weird nonetheless. Even the clouds were off; they were a dark grey, almost black colour, and floated around lazily. Though how they could do that without wind was beyond Lelouch.

Even though it wasn't raining, it seemed like a storm was raging across the wasteland; bolts of lightning struck the ground and set more than a few trees on fire. Far off in the distance, Lelouch could see a castle, over which the sky seemed to form what looked like a vortex.

His sightseeing was cut short though as he realized that he wasn't alone. Turning around, he noticed an eerily silent figure standing some ten feet across him in the small clearing they were currently in.

Not much could be said about them, other than the fact that the figure was a man, as the muscles beneath his black cloak betrayed. The cloak itself was a very dark shade of a mix between green and brown, and under that he wore a black tight-fitting jacket that showed even more of his muscled frame. Underneath the cloak, one could see the black combat boots he was wearing. The cloak seemed to swallow any light that came into contact with it, as Lelouch had a hard time discerning much from him other than the fact that he was male. What was easily visible though, were the two icy blue orbs with black slits as pupils that were fixed on him, observing him with a predatory gaze that sent chills down the demon emperors spine.

What was really worrying though, was the fact that the cloaked figure was radiating power like a beacon. Lelouch couldn't find any words to describe it, but it was a sense of dread; an almost oppressing feeling, as if a physical weight was pushing down on him.

What was also worrying, was that his Geass was activated and he could feel it flashing and burning wildly in his eyes, as if telling him to high-tail it in the other direction and get as far as physically possible away from the man. But something kept him rooted to the spot as he locked eyes with the figure before him.

"So, are you enjoying this world thus far?" The figure inquired with amusement.

Lelouch, much to his own surprise, couldn't answer. His mouth just wouldn't open.

"Ah, right, you're still human," the figure said more to himself than anyone else in a thoughtful tone, after which he somehow reigned in the oppressing feeling and Lelouch took in gulps of air as he found out that he had stopped breathing during the last minute.

He quickly recovered and answered the mysterious figures question, though he couldn't help but wonder what the meaning of the second sentence was. "Leaves a bit to be desired, as far as asthetics go." Now that he actually thought about it, only two worlds existed, one of which wasn't even a world by definition; the real world, and C's world, "Where am I anyway?"

The being chuckled, a sound that sent yet another chill down the dark prince's spine, "You...are in the Realm of Shadows." As if on cue, more lightning bolts crashed down into the earth, though luckily not too close to the two figures in the clearing.

Lelouch nodded, and searched his memories for anything regarding this...world. In the end, he realized that he had never heard nor read about anything called the Realm of Shadows, and opted to ask the man before him instead, "So, what is this place, and why am I here?"

The figure before him scoffed, "Humans...inquiring so much yet knowing so little." Despite that, he elaborated, "How you ended up here is beyond me, but I know _why _are you are here."

From the sound of his voice, he could tell the man was grinning in that extremely annoying 'I-know-something-you-don't' fashion. Figuring that he wouldn't answer his question, Lelouch noticed that his Geass was still activated.

What surprised him was the fact that he couldn't deactivate it. It was seemingly content to stay active despite its masters orders, which was weird as the dark prince had long since overcome the affliction known as Runaway Geass.

"Don't bother, it won't respond."

The dark prince levelled the mysterious figure with a glare, which combined with his blazing eyes made for an intimidating sight. Still, the man before him didn't seem fazed in the slightest, on the contrary, he seemed amused if anything, "It is this world that is affecting your powers."

"Alright, will you finally explain to me why I am here?" The conversation was starting to go in circles.

"I can tell you part of reason why you're here." The figure grinned again, though it was hidden by the shadow that the hood cast over his face, barely revealing the outlines of his face, "Because of your...peculiar powers."

Peculiar powers? Did he mean Geass? If so, then it really wasn't anything peculiar; many people had contracts with Code bearers, granting them the Power of Kings. Hell, he could count down more than a dozen people with Geass.

"You are a special case," the hooded man regarded him with those piercing blue eyes that seemed to burn into ones very soul, "Not only do you possess a...fraction...of Naraka, but also the Power of Kings, Geass. Why is that?"

The last question flew right over Lelouch's head, as he couldn't help but wonder what the hell this man was talking about, "Naraka?"

The figure blinked at him before sighing, "Right, you humans call that a Code."

After searching his memories for a few moments, his eyes widened and he resisted the urge to slap his face; back in C's world, he had killed his father, albeit indirectly, who had V.V.'s code. And seeing as he did it with a fully evolved Geass, the Code must've been transferred to him. But there were quite a few flaws in that theory; for starters, why did he only have one fraction of it? Though if he really had it, it explained why he was still alive. That, however, brought up more question than answers. Why did he wake up here? Which, again, brought him to his current situation.

"I killed my father who had a Code, but as you said, I only gained a fraction of his Code."

A booming laughter once again resounded through the small clearing they were in, before slowly dying down, "You really are a special case." The figure smirked and waved his hand. At first, nothing happened, but a moment later, black dust was carried into the clearing by a non-existant breeze. The dust soon settled next to the cloaked man, and layered itself until it had the shape of a grown, lean man, who, lo and behold, stood there after the black dust had fully settled.

His attire was one that Lelouch would associate with the ninja, or Shinobi, he had read about in various history books. A black bandana was wrapped around his forehead, and a facemask covered the rest, hiding most of his face save for his eyes. He also wore dark blue trousers, which were fastened to the ankles, and a jacket of similar colour. Instead of wooden sandals that one would associate with most ninja's, he wore split-toed tabi boots, which were a deep black in colour, which in Lelouch's view made more sense than wooden sandals. After all, ninja operated in the shadows and needed to stay hidden from sight.

The man stood at attention, awaiting orders from the cloaked figure who was no doubt his superior.

"Kusari, you know what to do."

With a slight bow of his head, 'Kusari' turned to Lelouch, revealing his eyes to the dark prince.

Much like his own eyes, two Geass sigils, though blue ones, were burning in his eyes. Aside from the blue colour, that wasn't strange in the least as, as established before, many people had contracts with Code bearers.

What was strange though, was his left eye. The wings of the bird-shaped sigil seemed to stretch out in the sclera of his eye, and what seemed like veins sprouted from the wings and weaved intracate patterns over the man's eye, all in that blue colour his Geass had.

For a moment, the two just locked eyes, observing each other's individual ocular powers, before the man known as Kusari narrowed his right and widened his left eye at him, presumably activating whatever power his Geass granted him. After a moment of nothing, the ninja turned to his master, and with another quick bow, dissipated into that odd, black dust, which was carried away by another non-existant breeze.

The dark prince just looked at the spot that was occupied by the man not five seconds ago, and turned to the other figure, "What did he do?"

"He will find the other fraction of Naraka."

Lelouch nodded slowly, trying to figure out just how he would do that. In the end though, he chalked it up as a power that his peculiar Geass granted him. He resorted to find out more about where he was, and with whom he was, "Just who are you?"

The figure smirked again and waved his arm. Time seemed to stop for a moment, after which it quickly continued. But instead of the clearing he was just in, Lelouch found himself infront of a large castle, presumably the one that he had seen from afar; it looked much larger from so close up than from so far away.

The cloaked man appeared next to him and made his way up the stairs that led to the huge, gate-like door. With a glance back, he said, "Walk with me." The tone was commanding, and Lelouch didn't dare disobey. Somehow he just knew that would the man not need or like him, he would've been a red stain on the ground long ago. Then again, why did he care? He had died once anyway, and it wasn't like he had anything left to continue living for. Regardless, he followed the man up the stairs and the two entered the castle.

As they entered, Lelouch couldn't help but gape at the huge hall that the foyer was. The walls were made out of dark grey, and combined with the torches that burned with a blue fire seemed to turn dark blue. Two huge chandeliers hung down the ceiling on either side of the hall, the candles also burning with a blue flame.

The staircase that led up into the higher levels of the castle split off in the middle, twisting up on either side of the foyer with a large fountain in the middle. The fountain itself seemed to greatly help underline the eerie and creepy atmosphere of the castle. Instead of water, a dark, red liquid was being circulated through it; Lelouch hoped that it was colored water, but something told him that that wasn't the case.

A huge statue towered over the fountain, a statue of a man with a cloak that seemed to billow in an invisble wind. A hood covered his head, throwing a shadow over his face. His arms were stretched out over the fountain, and made it seem like he was casting a spell.

The rest of the foyer was fairly standard, with lavish looking cupboards and drawers at the walls. They seemed to have been constucted from the black, dead trees out in that wasteland, but as they were polished to a shine, they actually looked very appealing.

Lelouch noticed that the cloaked figure was already making his way up the stairs, and quickly caught up to him, "I assume you have a few...questions?" 'Few' was an understatement; if it weren't for the man's intimidating presence that clearly conveyed certain death if you were to somehow piss him off, Lelouch would've long since asked the many questions currently bothering him.

Just as Lelouch wanted to voice one of those many questions, the figure raised a hand, silencing the dark prince, "Actually, before I answer your questions, we need to...remove those shackles of yours."

The demon emperor was visibly confused, "Shackles?"

A laugh rang through the corridor they were currently walking through, "Yes," he looked at Lelouch over his shoulder, "Clearly, you must have realized?" The implication in that sentence was clear to Lelouch.

Truth was, he had realized it as soon as he had seen the man. Something felt off about him from the moment he saw him; the eyes, the clothes, hell, the mere presence the man exuded was enough to prevent the dark prince from breathing and felt like a physical weight.

"You're not human."

The figure chuckled, "Yes, but neither are you."

The dark prince stopped and looked at the man in confusion, a frown marring his features "What do you mean?"

"Your title, it fits you more than you think."

The cogs slowly began to turn in Lelouch's head, _the demon emperor..._

"Yes, you are a demon, just as I am." The figure frowned, which was hidden by his hood, "Though, you're not a demon just yet."

Lelouch stood in silence for a moment, processing the revelation that had just been made. Strangely enough, it didn't bother him as much as it should have.

He was a demon.

Well, all things considered, he was a demon even before coming here. But then again, he wasn't a demon 'just yet'. Again, he was surprised that he didn't feel any relief at that; was it acceptance? Or just the fact that he didn't care anymore? He was actually dead, after all.

Pushing all those thoughts aside, Lelouch regarded the hooded demon infront of him as another piece of the puzzle all this was clicked into place, "...I take it that makes you my ancestor."

The demon laughed again, "I wouldn't have expected anything else from my descendant. Though whether you live up to that title or not has yet to be found out." With that, the man turned on his heel and continued down the corridor, leaving Lelouch to stand there for a moment before joining him, _let's see where this goes..._

**Later...**

The demon and the dark prince had just entered what looked like an arena. It was huge, and seemed to be a whole other structure than the castle itself. It was built in the style one would associate with roman colosseums, if the large pillars and tiered seats for possible spectators were anything to go by.

On the far side of the arena, Lelouch could see a closed of area that was filled with all types of weapons and armour, the former mounted on the wall while the latter was donned by mannequins. Some of the equipment looked like it had never seen the battlefield, while other looked like it had been to hell and back...twice.

Something else that caught the dark prince's eye were the many statues on either side of the arena, just below that walls that enclosed the whole space. Regardless, the two continued on into the middle of the arena.

As they reached the middle, his ancestor turned to him, "Now, are you ready to awaken? To embrace the side of you that has been dormant for so long?"

"Anything I should know beforehand?" At this point, the dark prince had resigned himself to whatever fate had in store for him. It wasn't like he could return back to where he came from. Hell, he didn't even know if that was possible, but even if it had been possible, returning to his world would've just destroyed everything he, Suzaku, and many others had worked for...

_"Big brother, welcome back!" Nunnally exclaimed cheerfully, followed by the much more calmer and politer greeting of the ninja-maid, Sayoko, "Welcome home, master." How he loved his little sisters smile. For him, it meant the world that Nunnally was happy. That is why he was determined to create a future where she could always smile._

_"GUTS!" Milly shouted at the collective student council members, still having faith in her magical spell. Still, Rivalz, Shirley, and Nina smiled at her. "You know that'll never work, right, Milly?" Rivalz. "Hey, it's got me going!" Shirley pumped her fist in the air. The silent girl next to them just continued typing away at her computer with a slight smile._

_"Zero! What are your orders?" Ohgi shouted over his comm-unit, firing his Knightmare's rifle at the Britannian soldiers, along with the rest of the members. Kallen had just finished off a dozen enemy Knightmares in mere seconds, a testament to her skills as a Knightmare pilot. He could see the victorious smirk on the red-heads face as she jumped back into the fray._

_"Lelouch, I need your credit card." The immortal witch's smooth, cynical voice grated on his nerves. At the same time though, it was so soothing. Perhaps he simply got used to it? They spent more than a year together after all. She would always encourage him when he doubted himself, help him out when he was in a tight spot. The time when she had him at gunpoint, or when she emptied his bank account to sate her addiction of pizza._

_"Big brother, are you ready?" Rolo asked as he sat on the driver's seat of his motorbike, waiting for Lelouch to take the passenger's seat. But that wasn't the only side to the young teen. "Remember the time limit," he said, holding his hand up and counting down the seconds left for his ward to deactivate, and thus allowing the dark prince to talk with his sister he had thought dead._

_"LELOUCH!" Suzaku shouted, infuriated as he aimed his gun at his first friend. Likewise, Lelouch trained his gun at his friend and enemy, "SUZAKU!" But even through that, the two managed to stay friends to the very end. Suzaku didn't even attempt to hold back the tears now rolling down his face as he pierced Lelouch's heart with his sword. He solemnly accepted the task his friend had left him with, and silently wept for the demon; the demon that had destroyed the world, and created it anew._

"Know this," the demon grinned, a mad and dangerous glint in his eyes as he regarded his descendant, "I won't hold back..."

"What do yo-" The dark prince's eyes widened as the cloaked figure disappeared, only to appear before him in a burst of speed with his fist cocked back, "Now, prove to me that you are indeed a descendant of Kurozaku!"


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter two: Awakening**

Lelouch was having a bad day, possibly one of the worst in his entire lifetime, and that was saying something. Apparantly, death and the hate of the entire world weren't enough in fate's eyes, as he was currently in the process of getting his ass handed to him, courtesy of his demonic ancestor, in order to awaken his demon blood.

The man was fast; his eyes couldn't even follow him.

All he saw before a fist was rammed into his stomach, was a barely visible, feral grin on his ancestor's face.

_What the hell?! _The dark prince screamed internally, as the punch that had just connected with his body broke more than a few ribs and liquified his insides, sending him flying across the arena until his body skidded to a halt on the ground. If this man, Kurozaku, was using even a fraction of the power Lelouch witnessed before, what chance did he stand? Nonetheless, he quickly got to his feet, wincing as pain shot through his body.

Weren't there less...painful ways of awakening his demon blood? There probably were, but judging by the wide grin on his ancestor's face this was the most entertaining one. Well. for him, atleast.

Before the dark prince could even regain his bearings, the demon was infront of him again, seemingly having raced across the arena in less than a second. This time, he didn't even have time to widen his eyes as another punch connected with his face. Much like before, his body was sent reeling across the arena and into the far wall.

_Hm, his blood is beginning to boil, and his body is already more resilient already, but... _Truth was, he overdid it with that last punch, but his descendant seemed to be okay. Well, relatively speaking, of course. With a chuckle, Kurozaku set into motion again, nothing but a blur to the human eye.

Meanwhile, Lelouch had just picked himself out of the wall, his body having left a light indentation in it. With a groan, he fell down to a knee, but quickly scanned the arena for his demonic ancestor, who seemed to be having a blast during all of this.

Much to the dark prince's surprise, the demon was nowhere to be found. Lelouch used the brief moment of reprieve to clear his head; his vision was still blurred and he could hear a perpetual ringing noise in his ears. Against his better judgement, the demon emperor let his head hang for a second, taking deep breaths in order to calm his nerves. Then, something caught his attention. His shadow; it was... growing? That was odd, since he wasn't making any such movements. But if it wasn't him that was moving...

His eyes widened, _Shit! _With all the strength he could dredge up, the dark prince threw his body to the side, and not a moment later witnessed the space he had just occupied buckle and shatter under the sheer force behind the axe-kick that crashed down onto it.

This man wasn't joking, he really wasn't holding back. Lelouch quickly used the chance to create some space between him and the demon.

Large amounts of dust and debris were thrown up, which upon settling revealed the damage the attack had done. Lelouch's eyes widened at the crater in which he could see the vague silhouette of the black clad, his eyes burning fiercly as he glared at him.

"_You_ call yourself my descendant?! Stop dodging like a pathetic human and fight me like a demon!" With that, the demon set off in another blur of motion and appeared before Lelouch again, who quickly raised his arms up in a meagre defence as the demon sent several quick jabs at him.

In hindsight, that wasn't such a good idea, as the punches hurt like hell; each one felt like a concrete brick being smashed into his forearms.

"Pathetic!" With a high kick that he blocked with both his arms, the demon emperor was sent flying into a wall yet again, the pain of his left arm being snapped like a twig not yet registering. A mix between a groan and a wince escaped his lips as he stood there, barely able to support his weight due to all the pain he was in. He thought about just what he could do to even the odds, if just a little, if he wanted to survive this ordeal. His gaze flickered over to the racks of weapons in the far end of the arena, _A weapon? No...he's too fast. Geass? That wouldn't work either, he knows about my powers already..._ In the end, he came up with nothing that he could use to his advantage; his whole body was just too weak. He was unsure of whether even Geass could help him now, given the knowledge the demon no doubt had about him he would quite possibly have countermeasures for it, provided he would even stay still long enough for him to actually use it.

His train of thought was derailed as his ancestor shot across the arena again. Within less than a second he was just a few feet away from the dark prince, and in a great display of agility, jumped and landed right infront him in a crouched handstand. The demon emperor didn't even have a second to react before the demon pushed himself up with his arms and used the momentum of the sprint to kick him below his chin and launch his body up the air. Just as he was halfway up the ceiling, the demon appeared before him again and buried another fist into his stomach, this one surpassing every previous one in the sheer force behind it. He felt his body pushing into and breaking the wall, which greatly contributed to the total amount of broken bones in his body. Debris and dust were thrown up into the air, and cracks spider-webbed from the point of impact to all around him for an impressive distance, almost reaching up to the ceiling.

With a widening of his eyes, the dark prince began hacking and coughing out large amounts of blood, some of which splattered on the demon's jacket and face, but he didn't seem to mind. That last punch had practically turned his whole midsection into a bloody pile of mush. Luckily, his spine was still intact, though that was a rather meagre consolation all things considered.

His vision was blurred and his head was swimming. Pain the likes of which he had never even felt before burned through his body. The dark prince could barely register the cold, icy eyes glaring at him; barely register the demon's words as he floated in front of him. But at the same time they were clear as day, taunting and mocking him.

"To think that mydescendant is such a weakling...pathetic." With that, he cocked his fist back to deliver one last punch.

Time seemed to slow down as the fist came flying towards Lelouch. The dark prince could see every detail of it, and even noticed that the air around it distorted, but that didn't matter now. All that mattered was the fact that he was going to die. Again.

A part of him relaxed at that notion; he would finally be at peace, so it didn't matter, right? It wasn't like he asked for this 'second chance' in the first place. But then, there was that part of him that was roaring and shouting like a wild beast that was confined to a cage, desperate to live...and to fight.

What was that?

As if to answer his question, he appeared before a set of large, metal pillars in the middle of another black void, not unlike the one he was in before. Those pillars, upon closer inspection, were bars. Huge, metal bars that were about twice as wide as he was. They seemed to go on forever, both in size and in numbers, continuing on far into the darkness.

Peering into the cell-like structure, he noticed a dark, reddish black and thick mist floating just above the ground, and filling most if not all the space in the cage. The fact that it radiated a powerful and malevolent presence didn't make it seem any more appealing, but the dark prince felt...drawn to it.

After a moments hesitation, he swallowed and entered the cage. It wasn't like he had any more options available at this point. With that, he proceeded into the cage and the presence increased seemingly a hundred-fold; he could clearly feel the rage, malevolence, power and killing intent that it radiated.

Steeling himself once again, he reached out to the mass. As soon as he was about to touch it, the mist latched onto his arm, and continued climbing up the limb. The demon emperor tried to pull away, but the mist had a strong grip on him, and more of it latched on to his legs and torso. Withing seconds, his entire body, save for his head, were covered in it.

It took all the selfcontrol he could muster to not panic. With a few deep breaths, the dark prince calmed his nerves, even as the mist climbed up his neck. Then, purely on instinct, he activated his Geass, but instead of the usual red on violet, his irises were crimson and the symbol was black. This seemed to affect the mist as it receded, not back into the cage, but seemingly into Lelouch's chest, until none of it was left.

Lelouch stood there for a moment, eyes still blazing blood-red. Suddenly, he threw his head up, and began laughing; it wasn't in his usual voice though. It had a deep baritone, and sounded evil and manical.

Meanwhile, Kurozaku was intent on ending his descendant's life, _Shame it has to end like this, but, oh well_

"Hm?" That was all the demon got out before the space around Lelouch exploded, sending the demon flying, who however, unlike Lelouch, didn't end up in a wall. With a series of graceful backflips, the demon regained his footing on the other side of the arena, observing the crater in the wall, from which Lelouch seemed to float down to the ground.

As he touched down on the ground, his form slouched over, the midnight black bangs of hair overshadowing his face.

_What...is this? _He brought his hand up, only to raise a brow at what he saw. Long, viscious claws had replaced his nails. But that wasn't the only change in his body; he could feel two fangs poking out his upper lip, and brought a hand up to carefully examine them. Even his hair had grown longer, reaching down to about mid-back in an untamed, slightly spiky mess. Then there were more extreme changes; looking down his body, he noticed that the upper part of his imperial garb had been shredded, revealing muscles that he didn't have before. They weren't overly large or bulging, but they had definitely grown, most probably to support the power flowing through his body...

The dark prince looked around himself, and saw that energy he had seen in that cage swirling around him slowly. Then, with one swift motion, the energy condensed back into his body, which was apparantly an extremely painful process as Lelouch's head snapped up and he let out an inhuman roar which seemed to shake and reverberate through the entire arena. What was going on? Was this his 'demonic' side? If so, it felt rather good. Hell, it felt fantastic! The dark prince felt better than he ever had; invincible even!

"Do you feel the power coursing through your body?"

Oh and how he felt it; it rolled off of him in waves and whirled around in his body like a maelstrom. Then he felt something else, something...primal. It was his demonic blood; coursing through his veins, dancing and pounding, urging him to fight and to kill. And, lo and behold, a demon infront of him, just waiting to put his power to the test.

What said demon saw made him smirk; Lelouch's irisis were a deep crimson, as if filled with blood, while the Geass symbol was completely black. What was currently taking place could only be described as the most intense staredown in history.

The staredown continued for a few moments before the two demons shot forward, the speed with which they shot off enough to shatter the ground beneath their feet. With a loud crash, and even more of the ground around them breaking by the created shockwave, the two clashed in the middle, and the real fight began.

"Now we can dance!" The older demon shouted with a wild grin on his face as he dodged and blocked his descendants attacks, which had already become much faster and more powerful. While his strength and speed were now through the roof, Kurozaku still had no problems keeping up. That wasn't to say that the ones he was relegated to block didn't hurt, but that only made his grin widen.

What neither of the two saw or felt were the pair of violet eyes watching them from the entrance of the arena, "Wow, he's really strong!"

The two were now solely focused on each other, their fight more an intracate dance than a battle between two demons. They both gracefully ducked and weaved through each others attack, blocking those that they couldn't dodge, and immediately countering them with more fists and kicks.

"Yes, excellent!" Kurozaku shouted as he ducked down to dodge a fist, only to jump up as Lelouch attempted to swipe his legs. He quickly regained his footing, and weaved between the flurry of punches Lelouch threw at him. They were fast, nothing but a blur of motion to the human eye. But Kurozaku was no human; after having enough of dodging, his eyes glowed and quickly locked on to each fist, before catching them with unbelievable timing and precision.

What he didn't expect however was the kick that followed from below, prompting him to let go of his now demonized descendants fists as he jumped back. But he didn't waste any time, and quickly shot forward again, only to have two feet buried into his stomach as Lelouch dropped back and crouched into a one handed handstand, twisting his body back and using the demon's momentum to launch him into the air.

"Wow," Lelouch regarded his body for a moment; he had never really fought before, yet here he was, beating up his demon ancestor. The dark prince filed away those thoughts for later. Then, with speed that'd put many humans and demons alike to shame, Lelouch shot up in the air, a few feat away from Kurozaku, and brought his foot down in an axe-kick that connected with Kurozaku's chest, sending him rocketing down into the ground.

The demon's body met the ground with an explosive force, enough to almost turn the whole arena into one, huge crater.

Once Lelouch touched down on the ground, it was as if he had just awoken from a sort of trance. The human-turned-demon brought his hands up and regarded them with a smirk, _This...feels great._

The injuries he had sustained during the beginning of the fight had long since healed, all his senses were heightened and his body felt like a powerhouse. In short, he felt absolutely amazing!

"Intoxicating, isn't it?"

Lelouch's head snapped up and he saw the demon he had just rammed into the ground standing there. He seemed perfectly fine; his clothes weren't ripped or torn, and the demon emperor couldn't see one scratch marring his body. All that seemed to bother him was the small amount of dust on his shoulder, which he quickly brushed off.

"Why aren't you-"

"Dead? Injured?" A chuckle followed before he continued, "Please, I am a demon lord, and what you witnessed back there was barely ten percent of my power." Kurozaku idly regarded his hand, "Long ago, I set a limiter for my power output in place, that way I can release my power according to the situation."

The demon emperor's eyes widened. Even at this percentage, he had no trouble tossing him around like a ragdoll. Given, he was a human before, but still...the dark prince didn't want to think about just what the man was capable of once he released all the restraints he had seemingly set in place. He discarded that thought and adressed the matter at hand, "So, I'm a demon now, huh?"

Kurozaku regarded him for a moment and spoke with a thoughtful voice, "No, you're a half demon; because of how long your demon blood has been dormant, you didn't turn fully into a demon, but we'll discuss that later. For now..." Something akin to...pity, flickered in the demons eyes, but Lelouch didn't have much time to think about it as an agonizing pain shot through his body.

He immediately crumpled to the ground, writhing and screaming in pain; pain even worse than the ass-kicking that Kurozaku had delivered to him. His muscles tensed and spasmed painfully...it seemed like they were ripping themselves apart. Hell, it felt like his whole body was trying to rip itself apart while being dunked into liquid fire.

Kurozaku simply turned his head to the entrance of the arena, "Lydia, the seal, quickly."

Not a moment later, a girl, no older than fifteen cheerfully bounded into the arena. She had vibrant violet eyes and shoulder-length black hair that framed her face in wild bangs. Her outfit consisted of a short-sleeved and high collared blue top with black adornments, contrasting with her delicate, pale skin. She also wore a pair of black shorts, and leggings of the same colour underneath that. Fingerless, black gloves with a blue Geass symbol on the back, a pair of simple black shoes and a blue and black striped scarf wrapped haphazardly around her neck completed the outfit.

As soon as she was infront of the black clad demon, she smiled brightly, "Here you go, father!" With that, she handed him a necklace with small metal crest on it. The metal was an odd black in colour, but the insignia was even odder. It was vaguely recognizeable as the Geass symbol and seemed much more intricate.

Meanwhile, Lelouch was still screaming and shouting out his agony, his mind somehow refusing to let him pass out; strange, seeing as that would've been the case when one was in such unbelievable amounts of pain.

The girl held a finger to her mouth, "Is he going to be okay?"

The demon just waved her off and crouched down next to Lelouch, "This is only the beginning, the pain will get worse...a lot worse. But you have to endure it." With that, Kurozaku brought the amulet up to his face and whispered some sort of incantation, after which he slammed his palm with amulet into his descendants chest. True to his words, this seemed to crank the pain up to new levels, evident by the inhuman roars and cries of agony the now half-demon let out.

Kurozaku then stood up and turned to the young girl, "Lydia, have someone prepare a room for him and stay with him. I have to attend to something."

The girl nodded happily, "Yes, father!" She quickly moved to Lelouch's still writhing and shouting form, and layed her hand on his chest, thouch in a much gentler way than the old demon did, and the two seemed to sink into the ground.

Kurozaku looked at the spot where to the two just vanished and then smiled, before sinking into the ground himself.

**One week later**

"Ugh..." The dark prince stirred, and with a lot of effort, cracked an eye open. Memories of what happened during, or rather after the battle flooded his mind, and he could still feel the lingering pain. It was like a hangover, only ten times worse. Cautiously, he turned his head to the side, only to stare directly into a pair of violet orbs.

"..."

"..."

"..."

"Yay! Nii-san is awake!" The person whom he now identified as a young girl, squealed excitedly, causing Lelouch to wince slightly; as a half-demon, his senses were heightened considerably, so a high-pitched, female squeal from point-blank was rather unpleasant.

Then, something else registered in his mind, "...Nii-san?"

The girl, who was currently happily dancing around the room stopped for a moment to blink at him, "Father said that you were also his descendant." She tilted her head to the side, "You are, aren't you?"

Lelouch's eyes widened a fraction and he answered her question with one of his own, "Wait, you're his daughter?"

The young girl brought a finger to her chin, "I'm not his real daughter, but I'm also his descendant. I don't know how I ended up here, but it was a few years ago, and father found me. I've been living here ever since."

Lelouch nodded, "So, that means we're related, huh?" Actually, any idiot could've deduced that; vibrant, violet eyes and midnight black hair were an uncommon combination of traits, after all.

"Yep!" She exclaimed in what seemed to be her usual cheerful demeanor, "That makes you my nii-chan!"

The dark prince couldn't help but chuckle at her demeanor, "Yeah, I guess so." His chuckle died down, and he gained a thoughtful look on his face, which his self proclaimed little sister didn't miss, "Is anything wrong, nii-chan?"

The half-demon looked up at her, "How long have I been out?"

Bringing a finger up to her lips, she struck a thoughtful pose, which Lelouch found to be rather cute. "Well, it's been one week since you awakened, but you only just passed out two days ago. Before that, you were still screaming and shouting in pain."

That caused his eyes to widen again, and more memories flooded his mind, "What happened back then?"

"You turned into a half-demon, but I'm sure you know that the transformation was...painful. But it was for me, too, if that's any consolation," she stated with that same bright smile on her face, "Father used the amulet so that you wouldn't go out of control, so it wasn't too bad."

_Yeah, I remember..._ Back then, he was still in too much pain to ask what he was doing with that odd amulet, but whatever he did, it increased the pain considerably, "What was that amulet for?"

The young girl giggled, "You ask a lot of questions, nii-chan." Still, she explained, "If father wouldn't have used the amulet, your transformation would've gotten out of control. Basically, you would've gone on a rampage, attacking anything and anyone in sight."

The demon emperor let the information sink in, nodding absently. He brought one of his hands up, and noticed that the claws, while still very much present, weren't as long and as...feral as before. His hair was still just as long, and even messier now. Considering the fact that he hadn't showered for more than a week, that was a given. The dark prince looked over to the mirror on the nightstand next to the bed, and noticed that the fangs were still there...and that his eyes were now a mix between crimson and violet, and actually seemed to alternate between the two colours, as if it was a lake that took on other colours by reflecting the light.

"So, I'm a half-demon now, huh?"

"Yep, just like me!"

Lelouch smiled at her. Frankly, this all seemed so...surreal to him. One day, he completes his plan to rid the world of its hate, and the very same day he turns into a half-demon. Then again, he couldn't be sure whether that happened on the same day. For all he knew, a year could've been between his death and his awakening in the Realm of Shadows. Still, he didn't mind it at all. In fact, it felt good to be able to continue on living. Hell, he was only eighteen years old, and even during those eighteen years, most of his experiences consisted of hardships.

But now, he could start anew.

"Say, where is father?" Once the words left his mouth, he blinked. Why did he just call him father? It sounded natural, actually, but he clearly wasn't his father. In the end, he chalked it up to another change caused by his demon blood awakening.

"He left an hour ago, I think for a meeting of the Council of Elders."

"Council of Elders?"

The young girl blinked at him again, before giggling, "Oh right, you don't know. The Council of Elders is a council of the strongest demons in the Realm of Shadows. Father'll tell you more once he's back," she struck a thoughtful pose again, "Atleast, I think so..."

Lelouch laughed again, which quickly turned into a fit of coughing as pain burned through his body again.

"Nii-san, you should sleep a little more for now." Her tone was now serious and...worried. Lelouch just nodded wearily, suddenly feeling tired once again, but another thought struck him, "Hey, how long have you been here?"

She gave him another one of those beaming smiles, "One week."

Lelouch began coughing again, "One...week?!"

His response was another smile, "Yeah, father told me to take care of you," the smile widened a fraction, if that was even possible, "After all, you're my brother."

The dark prince felt a smile spread across his own features as he regarded the young girl, "Thank you..." He blinked; he didn't even know her name.

"Lydia." The smile never left her face.

"Thank you, Lydia..." He drawled, slowly slipping back into a much need and much deserved slumber.

**There you go, chapter two. Let me know if you want more, I have tons of ideas for this story that just refuse to leave my head.**

**Reviews are as always very much appreciated!**

**Until the next chapter!**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter three: Progress and Revelations**

Three weeks had passed since the day Lelouch had woken up and had that conversation with his little sister, Lydia. After that day, he still had to sleep for half a week though, as his body needed time and rest to adapt to the changes being a half-demon brought with itself. Luckily, the pain had since subsided, and the demonic energy, Youki, as Kurozaku called it, that had been flowing through his system like a torrential stream had also settled.

Even though the process was painful beyond comprehension, the dark prince felt great. The asthetic changes also didn't bother him in the least, on the contrary, he actually quite liked his now long mane of hair.

His recovery had also gone nicely, after which Kurozaku had appeared in his room, explaining to him what would happen from then on. The half-demon had found out that while the possibility of returning to his world was present, he couldn't leave just now. Not that he wanted to anyway; he had left it in capable hands, and him turning up there would ultimately do more harm than good, even more so now that he was a half-demon. Then his ancestor had told him about the training he would be undergoing, much like with his surrogate sister some three years ago. It would consist of sparring, hand-to-hand combat, Kenjutsu(1), Youki control and meditation and various other excersises. What had particularly piqued his interest though, was what the demon called 'shadow manipulation'. He had explained to him that it was basically the ability to bend shadows and darkness to one's will, and that he would go more in-depth during the training.

Lelouch quickly found out that the training Kurozaku had him undergo was rather...brutal; one excersise was particularly grueling, but at the same time very simple.

Meditation.

That had been one of the prime excersises he had to focus on during his training, as Kurozaku had found out that his reserves were immense, larger than even those of Lydia, even though she had been training for three years. That, however, didn't mean that he could use all of it, as with large reserves a lot of control was needed in order to effectively use them.

That was why he had to focus on that aspect of his training. Basically, the simplest excersise was to sit still. Now, that sounded quite easy, but it was a grueling excersise, as he had to sit completely still for hours, sometimes even days on end.

The demon lord had told him that it would help calm his mind, and that in turn would improve his control over his Youki. In addition to that, his Youki, just like that of every demon, had a certain nature. His was fire, which only added to the already corosive nature of Youki. That was another aspect he had to focus on developing, as fire was a destructive element, and needed to be used carefully.

Other than that, he was also given a tour of the castle, and his ancestor had told him about its history. That was also when he had found out that the demon was more than three thousand years old, and that he had built the castle about two thousand years ago. What was also interesting, was the fact that the castle was alive; not in the sense that it was actually alive, but as Kurozaku had explained to him, it was imbued and saturated with his energy, granting it the ability to fortify itself and repel an assault should it ever come that far, and also repairing any damage it sustained.

Even the servants of the castle were actually part of it, created with his Youki and darkness. Lelouch was rather reluctant to believe that, which Kurozaku had apparantly sensed as he had called over a maid, who, with a smile, turned into a black mist, still keeping the human form, albeit vaguely, while also managing to keep on the clothing.

All in all, Lelouch truly enjoyed the short time he had spent in the castle with his surrogate sister and their ancestor.

Currently, he was training with Lydia and Kurozaku. It was an all-out style spar, with him and Lydia against their ancestor. Considering that he had awakened not a month ago, the dark prince was holding his own rather nicely against Kurozaku, as was his sister, but that was understandable, as she was leaps and bounds ahead of him. After all, she had been trained by Kurozaku for three years, and was adept at almost everything he had taught her.

The three had turned the whole arena into ruins with the many attacks that missed their intended targets, but luckily, the arena, just like the castle, had to ability to repair itself.

Lelouch narrowly avoided a punch from Kurozaku, and quickly countered with several of his own, which he greatly enhanced by channeling his Youki into them and setting them ablaze. The demon, however, also dodged them with practiced grace. Right now, he was using twenty percent of his power. Kurozaku smirked; the two weren't to be taken lightly. Lydia, while very skilled in the arts of battle, didn't have the genius-level intellect her brother did, which the half-demon put to good use as he came up with tactics that Kurozaku found rather impressive. That even more so seeing as the two had only fought together a handful of times. Usually, they would've just sparred against eachother, with Kurozaku pointing out any mistakes Lelouch made or if any of his stances were off.

The two siblings were an impressive team though, able to communicate with eachother with just an exchange of looks. That was why Kurozaku was slightly worried when they quickly exchanged glances and smirked, before Lydia disappeared and Lelouch came at him again, his fighting style having refined itself somewhat during the last month.

Still, with twenty percent of his power, the demon lord quickly forced his descendant on the the defensive. Said half-demon winced as a fist of his ancestor managed to slip by his defence and send him sailing into a wall. He quickly channeled some of his Youki into his legs and flipped himself up, standing horizontally on the wall. That move came just in time as Kurozaku didn't waste a second and smashed his fist into where Lelouch's head was just a split-second ago. Feeling his grip on the wall wavering, the dark prince pushed himself off in a burst of speed, and landed in the middle of the arena.

Before he could even realize what was happening, Kurozaku was infront of him, gripping his throat and lifting him up into the air with relative ease.

With a smirk, he applied more pressure, however, much to his chagrin, a smirk appeared on his descendants face aswell. When realization dawned on him, he quickly let go of him and jumped back, as did Lelouch.

That proved to be a wise move as a huge ball of condensed Youki crashed down where they just were. Judging by the ground actually melting and turning most of the arena into a pool of lava, the young girl had overdone it, which she admitted as she landed on a piece of rock that hadn't turned into lava, "I think I overdid it, nii-chan."

The girl really seemed to be considering it, given her thoughtful pose, which caused Lelouch to sweatdrop as he landed next to her, "Don't worry about, this just makes it more interesting."

That seemed to pull her out of her thoughts as she nodded with a bright smile and shot off the piece of rock, causing it to sway dangerously.

"Hey! Be a little more careful next time!" Lelouch shouted after her, and quickly followed his younger sister.

All the while, Kurozaku observed the two siblings from another piece of rock on the far end of the arena, shaking his head. Then, he too shot off and jumped along the pieces of rock in the direction of the two teens.

The three met in the air with both Lelouch and Lydia throwing a kick at the demon from each side, which he blocked with his hands. The demon lord then proceeded to grab both limbs and hurl the two sibling at the wall.

What happened after that actually caused his eyes to widen; as the two were rocketing towards the wall, Lydia grabbed Lelouch's leg, swung him around her and used the momentum to throw him back at the demon, who had yet to recover from his momentary, surprise induced daze.

As he did, however, it was too late. Lelouch was already infront of him, fist cocked back to deliver one hell of a punch, the strength of which was greatly increased by the Youki he channeled into it and the forward momentum of his flight.

The fist connected with Kurozaku's face, and created a large ripple in the air, sending him flying into the wall with such force that it collapsed on top of him, which in turn caused the part of the ceiling above him to collapse aswell. All that resulted in him being buried under tons of concrete debris and the lava that flowed into the crater.

Lelouch dropped onto another floating piece of rock, staring blankly at the scene before him. Lydia soon dropped down next to him, staring at what was once a large part of the arena with an equally blank gaze, a finger on her chin, "Overkill?"

"Definitely."

After a few moments, the two started to get worried, fearing that they really had overdone it this time. Those feelings were dispersed however, as Kurozaku shot out from the lava right infront of them, a black katana in hand as he shot towards Lelouch. He was too fast and too close to dodge, so he just had to take the strike.

_Damn it! _Lelouch thought with a scowl as the blade of the katana was mere inches away from him. The dark prince closed his eyes and brought his arms up, channeling Youki into them and awaiting the pain of the katana as it cleaved through his flesh.

That pain never came however, and instead he heard a loud 'clang', signifying that metal had hit metal. Opening his eyes, he noticed the demon lord infront of him, his katana having clashed with...his?

Only now did he notice that he was holding a sword himself, not unlike Kurozaku's as far as its appearance went.

A chuckle brought his attention back to his ancestor, "One month and you're already able to manipulate darkness."

The dark prince examined his sword, and noticed that while the part of it that clashed with Kurozaku's looked like a real sword, the rest of it was just a black and red mist, indicating that his Youki was also present in the blade.

"You're not able to fully stabilize it yet, but it's impressive nonetheless. Even Lydia needed several months to achieve that."

"Wow, nii-chan's really strong!" The girl chimed in, cheerful as ever.

"Well, we might aswell continue with shadow manipulation; that sword in your hand is merely one of the many abilities darkness grants you," the demon shrugged as his own sword dissolved into a black mist, and an evil grin appeared on his face that made Lelouch gulp, while Lydia was still admiring her brother's skill.

"But first..." the evil grin widened even more, "That lava bath was rather...unpleasant."

A chill ran down Lelouch's spine.

**Pendragon palace, meeting room**

"Empress Nunnally," Cornelia said in a serious tone and bowed down, as did the other people that had entered the room. The meeting room that would normally be filled with nobility and members of the royal family was now occupied by key members of the Black Knights and other select individuals who all had one thing in common.

A connection to Lelouch.

Sayoko, Kallen, Ohgi and Viletta, Tamaki, Rakshata, Tohdoh, Kaguya, empress Tianzi and Xingke, Cornelia and Guildford, Jeremiah, Lloyd and Cécile, Milly, Rivalz and Nina. All of them were curious about why the empress had summoned them, but figured that the explanation would soon follow.

Then there was the green-haired girl that many recognized, but didn't know much about. Zero, as the knight of the empress, was obviously also there, standing next to Nunnally.

"Please, sister, there's no need for formalities," Nunnaly replied and motioned for all of them to take a seat as she moved her wheelchair closer to the table, Zero moving silently to her side.

"Now, to why I summoned you all here..."

**Flashback**

"Nunnally, are you sure you want to go through with this?"

The empress and Suzaku were currently in her office. Nunnally was gently dragging wo fingers down a portrait of her brother, Lelouch, while Suzaku was nervously pacing in the room, his mask, the mask of Zero, held securely in his arm.

After a moment, the young empress replied, "Suzaku." At that, the young Japanese stopped pacing and looked up at the girl that he had sworn to protect, "It's been one month. I know what Lelouch did was to ensure peace, and I do not intend to disrespect his last wish, but the others atleast deserve to know."

Suzaku couldn't help but think about just how mature the young girl had grown after all this, and she was right after all; some deserved to know of his sacrifice, but still...

"...Are you sure this is a good idea?"

"Yes, and I am going through with it."

"I understand."

**Meeting room**

Silence.

One could literally here a pin drop to the floor as deathly silence permeated the air in the room. All the people present had varied reactions. The few that already knew the truth about Lelouch, such as Kallen, didn't have a surprised and shocked look on their faces as they silently looked down, their faces a mask of sorrow.

Some, namely the members of the Black Knights couldn't quite wrap their head around what had just been revealed to them.

But the one feeling all of them had in common was regret; some greater than others, but they all felt it somewhere in their mind. Regret at not being able to see him once again, to tell him how they felt, to tell him what they were feeling right now.

Then, a scoff broke the silence, causing everyone to turn to the green-haired girl who was sitting on the far end of the table, a yellow plushie wrapped up in her arms. "You people claim to know Lelouch, yet you know absolutely nothing about him," she stated coldly.

Some seemed to lower their heads at how true that statement was. They never really knew much about him, now that they thought about it, and they most definitely didn't know about his extremely elaborate plan to free the world of its curse. Some wanted to protest, but C.C. shut them up with a glare, "Please, enlighten me. What would Lelouch possibly achieve or gain by becoming the emperor and imposing his will on the whole world forcibly?"

Now that it was said aloud, it did make sense. Lelouch never was one to care much about a position of power. The question was rhetorical, and the room fell into silence again.

Said silence continued for a few minutes before Nunnally broke it, "Tomorrow, I will be heading my brothers grave, those who wish to mourn with me are welcome to join me."

A tear rolled down her cheek, "For now, I just pray Lelouch is happy wherever he is."

**Meanwhile...**

"This is awesome!" Lelouch shouted with joy as he jumped up into the air and smacked the odd, black ball onto the other side of the field that he and Lydia had turned the arena into. He hadn't had this much fun in ages!

"Yay! Hahaha!" Lydia laughed with equal cheerfulness as she leapt just in time to throw the ball back over the equally odd, black net.

The two were currently playing what Lelouch had lovingly dubbed, 'Extreme Shadowball.' The whole game had been brought into life after Kurozaku had left, as he had...matters to attend to, whatever the hell that was supposed to mean; not that Lelouch cared, after all it saved him the punishment for the lava bath they had given him.

The two surrogate siblings were actually supposed to train and improve upon their manipulation of shadow and darkness. While Lydia was already adept at that, Lelouch had yet to achieve anything regarding that skill.

After an hour though, he was able to make a small, black ball out of darkness, which sparked an idea in his head.

He had told Lydia to create a larger ball and a net out of shadow. The young girl had no idea what her brother was trying to do, but obliged and even helped him pulverize the arena floor to a fine sand-like dust. And after explaining to her what volleyball was, the girl was absolutely ecstatic about trying it out, and with that, the two began the game of extreme shadowball.

Lelouch noted that his sister was a quick learner, as after the first few minutes, she was already playing like a pro. Then again, considering they were half-demons, smacking a ball around was little more than child's play to them.

That was where the 'extreme' came into play. Lydia had enveloped the black ball with a layer of Youki, increasing its speed drastically while also making it harder to receive. That, in turn, prompted the two half-demons to pump Youki into their arms and legs in order to keep up with it.

Actually, one could hardly say that they were slacking off during their training. The whole game was rather good training, splitting one's attention between the fast, Youki enhanced ball and pumping their own Youki into their legs and arms, and even adding small bursts to smack the ball back.

Currently, they were at a draw, and both one point away from victory.

The smirk playing across Lydia's lips as she slammed the ball back didn't go unnoticed by Lelouch, and gave him every reason to be worried. His worries were proven correct as the ball speeded towards him much faster than before, practically burning with Youki.

The dark prince saw no other option and jumped up, charging as much of his Youki as he could into his arm, cocking it back for an energy enhanced punch that would ensure his victory.

He aimed for the ball, sent another burst of Youki into his arm and launched it forward...only for the ball to suddenly dive down and to the side.

"Damn it, Lydia!"

The girl had attached a small tendril of shadow to the ball and had changed its trajectory, causing it to crash into Lelouch's side of the field; the large amount of Youki it was enveloped in was just a distraction.

The dark prince fell forward, and as he was falling to the ground noticed that he still had large amounts of Youki in his arm. That Youki, now that it had nowhere to go, would rip his arm apart if it stayed there. So, seeing no other option, he rammed his fist into the ground as soon as he was close enough.

A veritable sandstorm followed the resulting explosion, and a large tremor rocked the arena.

As the following cloud of sand settled down, Lydia made her way to the middle of the arena, ecstatic about the fact that she had won.

"Damn," Lelouch sighed as he looked at his arm. His sleeve had been shredded and his arm was burned by the corosive nature of Youki. Still, the healing process was already underway, small slivers of steam rising from his arm as the burns slowly faded.

Then, a blue and black blur tackled him to the ground, which he quickly found out was Lydia as she hugged him and cheerfully exclaimed, "I won nii-chan! I won!"

Lelouch sighed defeatedly, but smiled nonetheless, "Yeah, though that last move was unfair." The girl paid no attention to his words and instead continued to hug him and exclaim her victory.

"Indeed, that last move was rather unfair, Lydia," Lelouch froze at that, and slowly turned to see Kurozaku standing there, observing the damage done to the arena with a satisfied smirk.

Lydia, however, seemed to be only more ecstatic at seeing her father figure, and quickly ran over to him, "Father, I won against Lelouch in extreme shadowball!"

The black-clad demon merely raised and eyebrow, "...Extreme shadowball?"

As the girl continued to explain the game to him, Lelouch just sweatdropped. She obviously had no idea that they would most likely receive a punishment for not actually training.

"As interesting as this...extreme shadowball sounds, we'll have to continue your training." Lelouch was surprised as he noticed that there wasn't any implicated threat or punishment following his sentence.

The demon lord seemed to sense that as he explained, "The reason I'm not punishing you is because there actually wasn't any way you'd be able to train shadow and darkness manipulation. I haven't given you key information for the training yet."

With that, he began to explain the intracacies of darkness.

"Now, darkness itself is very...corruptive, in nature. Should you not be able to fully control it, it will corrupt your mind and destroy you."

Even Lydia was listening carefully at this point, as Kurozaku didn't like being interrupted during his lessons.

"The trick is to bend it to your will, and to not let it even attempt to latch onto your mind. Once it does, it slowly corrupts you and turns you into a puppet. And as it is, not many demons possess an affinity for darkness."

That was new to Lelouch. The half-demon had thought that the ability to control darkness was rather common, seeing as even he could use it, "Why is that?"

The demon lord blinked, and explained, "Only my clan is able to manipulate darkness, and even then, it is rare for one of them to be able to use it. In the same way, other clans of demons are able to use fire or water, or even light. You two are very gifted as far as that goes. In fact, there is only one person besides us and outside of my clan who has an affinity for darkness."

"Who is that?" Lelouch inquired.

"Lady Moryo, keeper of the Realm of Shadows, and the only one whose mastery over darkness rivals my own."

Lelouch frowned in thought, "Lady Moryo?"

"Yes, she is the one person that has absolute mastery over darkness, as she is darkness itself; this whole realm belongs to her. We are on good terms though, and occasionally even spar."

"How strong is she, father?" Lydia asked, as this was also the first time she had ever heard of her.

A chuckle was her response, "Let's just say she is one of the only people to ever have witnessed me release more than eighty percent of my power."

Now that was something. Even at twenty percent, he could manage both him and Lydia with relative ease. The dark prince could only imagine how strong his lady Moryo was. Even then it was only a spar, but then again, god knew what a spar would be for those two.

"Anyway, let us continue on with the lesson. Now, as you know, you can use darkness to create solid objects, but that is not everything you can do with it. Darkness grants you the ability to create pocket dimensions here in the Realm of Shadows, as you always have a link to it. Those dimensions serve a variety of purposes, such as travelling, or even storage. Other than that, you can use it in conjunction with your Youki to create sentient beings, and even use its corruptive nature against enemies. One of the most useful techniques though, is teleportation. Lydia, would you demonstrate?"

"Sure, father!" The young girl obliged happily, and after a moment, sunk into the ground, or her shadow to be exact.

A moment later, she rose from the shadow behind Kurozaku, causing Lelouch to raise an eyebrow; he had seen them do that many times, but every time he inquired, Kurozaku simply said that he would learn it later on.

"As the name suggests, you can use it for teleportation, though it isn't exactly that. The way it works is that it transports you to a pocket dimension where time passes extremely slowly, and then ejects you at your intended destination, making it seem like you travelled a great distance almost instantaneously."

With that, the demon lord sunk into ground aswell, and instantly appeared next to a shadow a few feat away from them.

"Try it; imagine the destination that you want to get to and focus on the shadow."

Lelouch did as told, and searched for a suitable spot. In the end, he decided for Lydia's shadow, and concentrated on it. After a moment, he could feel himself sinking into his own shadow, and focused on not panicking, as the feeling was...weird, to say the least. It felt like using an elevator, but much faster. The weird thing was that it felt slow at the same time, but Lelouch just ignored it and kept his concentration. As he felt himself slowly rising back up, he opened his eyes and found himself behind his little sister, who immediately congratulated him on his success, "You did it, nii-chan! It was really easy, right?"

Surprisingly enough, it was actually pretty easy, considering the other excersises he had done.

"It was easy because of two factors. Firstly, you have a strong affinity for darkness, and secondly, you have a lot of willpower. The second is key in using darkness, as you have to impose your will upon it, and make it do your bidding, lest it corrupts you."

Lelouh made sure to keep that in mind; the last thing he wanted to be was a puppet controlled by darkness.

"For now, focus on using the shadows for teleportation, until you can do it with just a thought."

Another grin spread across his hidden features, "Now then...tell me more about this extreme shadowball."

A huge grin split Lydia's face as she joyfully explained the game to him once again, while Lelouch just shook his head with a chuckle and worked on building up a net from the shadows.

**Hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it.**

**(1) Umbrella term for all schools of Japanese Swordsmanship.**

**As always, reviews are greatly appreciated and help a lot!**

**Until the next chapter!**


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